The present invention relates to mounting devices and, in particular, to devices for mounting a machine element with a bore coaxially onto a shaft.
A common mechanical objective is to mount a gear, wheel or pulley onto a shaft. One approach is to closely machine the tolerances so that the element on the shaft is centered. The more accurately the bore is machined the better the concentricity, but the higher the cost.
One known system for mounting a gear to a shaft (for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,851) employs two coaxial, nested sleeves that are threaded together. The inner sleeve has a frustro-conical exterior that mates with the frustro-conical interior of the outer sleeve. The inner sleeve is slit and split so that threading the two sleeves together compresses and shrinks the inner sleeve. The outer sleeve has circumferentially spaced segments that are pressed outwardly as the sleeves are threaded together. Thus the nested sleeves may be placed around a sleeve and inside a gear so that when tightened, the sleeves engage and center the gear on the shaft.
See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 602,149; 1,380,708; 2,269,132; 3,957,381 and 4,824,281.
A disadvantage with these known mounting devices is the relatively large number of parts required and the relative difficulty of manufacturing them.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mounting device which is relatively simple to make for securely mounting a machine element to a shaft coaxially.